Earl of Balfour

Earl of Balfour is a hereditary title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

It was created in 1922 for the Conservative politician Arthur Balfour. He was from 1902 to 1905 Minister of the United Kingdom as well as Foreign Secretary from 1916 to 1919. With the award of the title was determined that in the absence of male heirs first his younger brother Gerald William Balfour, after his nephew Francis Cecil Campbell Balfour and it was nephew Oswald Herbert Campbell Balfour should the right to inherit the title. The latter two were the sons of his deceased younger brother Colonel Eustace James Anthony Balfour. Balfour was elevated to Viscount Traprain of Wittingehame in the County of Haddington and received at the same time the earldom conferred.

Balfour remained unmarried so that succeeded him, his younger brother Gerald as the second Earl. He, too, was a conservative politician and held the post of Chief Secretary for Ireland, he was president of the Board of Trade and the Local Government Board. With the death of his grandson, the fourth Earl, who had four daughters but no son, died from his line so that succeeded him his second cousin as the current carrier of the earldom. He is the grandson of the aforesaid Francis Cecil Campbell Balfour, nephew of the first Earl.

Family residence is Burpham Lodge at Arundel in Sussex.

Earl of Balfour (1922 )

• Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour ( 1848-1930 )
• Gerald William Balfour, 2nd Earl of Balfour ( 1853-1945 )
• Robert Arthur Lytton Balfour, 3rd Earl of Balfour ( 1902-1968 )
• Gerald Balfour, 4th Earl of Balfour ( 1925-2003 )
• Roderick Francis Arthur Balfour, 5th Earl of Balfour ( b. 1948 )

The heir apparent is the brother of the present Earl Charles George Yule Balfour ( b. 1951 ), whose heir, his son George Eustace Charles Balfour (* 1990)